


Frozen Inside Out: Elsa's Story

by Mr_Westing



Series: Frozen Inside Out [2]
Category: Frozen (2013), Inside Out (2015)
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 07:36:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7092496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Westing/pseuds/Mr_Westing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A retelling of the events of "Frozen" from the perspective of Elsa's emotions.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Accident

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally published on fanfiction.net.
> 
> The events outside Elsa's mind are based on the film Frozen, though some parts may be paraphrased for the sake of the medium. The events inside her mind are based on the film Inside Out, though with some headcanons not found in the film (like memories being able to be altered to emotions other than sadness). If the characters in these parts seem OOC to you, keep in mind that they are Elsa's emotions, not Riley's.

Anger had night duty in Elsa's mind, and that suited him just fine. The other emotions weren't there to bother him. There was nothing happening to Elsa that could upset him. He could just sit and watch dreams all by himself until Elsa was woken in the morning by her parents.

Or, in this case, her sister, who had entered Elsa's room and was pestering her to play. Anger pressed a button, and on the screen, Elsa pushed Anna off the bed and told her to go play by herself. He leaned back satisfied, thinking he had given himself a few more minutes. But then…

"Do you wanna build a snowman?"

"A snowman?" shouted Joy, rushing into the control room. She quickly shoved Anger out of the way of the panel and took over, making Elsa leap out of bed. Soon, the other emotions came in.

"Ugh. Why are we up so early?" Disgust complained. She looked out the window and saw the island of personality dedicated to Elsa's younger sister in full swing. "Ah. That explains it."

"Explains, yes, but it does not excuse it!" said Fear. "Or at the very least it doesn't excuse us making so much noise."

He reached over Joy's shoulder and pressed a button that made Elsa shush Anna, who was extolling her to 'Come on!' just a little bit too loudly. Joy pushed Fear back, making it so that the row of memories being formed for that day only had a single splash of purple among a sea of gold.

"Back off, Fear! I'm planning for Elsa to have a wonderful time with Anna this morning and I don't want you to ruin it with a bunch of worrying!"

"Well, it would also be ruined if their parents or a servant or somebody was woken up by a loud noise and saw we were up and we got in trouble!"

"He's right," said Anger. "It'd be awful if we got in trouble."

"And it'd be just as awful if we _didn't_ get to use Elsa's magic!"

"I don't think those would be equally awful," said Fear. "Wait, her magic?"

"Oh, don't even start, Fear," she said. On the screen, Elsa used her powers to make it snow inside; through the control room window, the Island of Personality that represented her powers activated. Anna Island was also on, going since Elsa had woken up. There was also an island representing her parents, who were presumably still in bed, and islands for Etiquette and Leadership, formed from the lessons given to her as fitting her role as heir to the throne and which hopefully wouldn't be needed in practice for some time to come.

"Snow Magic Island is running, and I plan on keeping it running for the whole morning," Joy continued, "so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your comments to yourself."

"It's not the powers themselves per se," said Fear. "It's just that… well, we're still in our nightgowns. Shouldn't we change into some warmer clothes? Or at least put on a jacket?"

"Yeah," said Disgust, "It'd be really uncomfortable to wear these if they got damp."

"I was thinking more along the lines of illness."

"Come on, guys, look at Anna! Does she look like she's worried about those things?"

The emotions all glanced at the screen. Elsa had turned the floor icy and Anna was now happily sliding around on it.

"I guess not," Fear said.

"Exactly," said Joy. "So let's just enjoy it."

So Elsa and her sister spent the next hour playing in the snow, Joy operating the console to ensure that Elsa was having fun the entire time. The other emotions looked on at first, but were quickly getting restless.

"You've been pretty quiet so far, Sadness," said Anger. "You got anything useful to add?"

"Well, all this snow looks lovely now, but it's inevitably going to melt and turn into water…"

"Yeah, I thought not."

On the screen, Anna jumped through the air; Elsa created a pillar of snow for her to land on. Anna kept jumping, and Elsa kept making pillars, but Joy didn't seem to recognize that Anna's leaps were slightly too fast for Elsa to keep up with.

"You're going too slow!" shouted Fear. He nudged Joy out of the way of the control panel. "We need to make platforms more quickly, or else Anna might—fall! Ah!"

In his focus on creating the pillars, Fear had neglected Elsa's footwork, causing her to slip on the ice. On the screen, he watched as Anna leapt again, but with nothing for her to leap to.

"No!" he screamed. In his panic, he pressed the controls to shoot another beam, hoping to break her fall; but instead, Elsa shot out a beam that hit Anna squarely in the head. She fell to the floor and lay there, not moving.

The emotions stood in shock. Then, wordlessly, Sadness placed her hands on the controls. On the screen, Elsa went over to where Anna fell and cradled her.

The doors burst open; in came their parents, the king and queen. "Elsa, what have you done?" the king said. "This is getting out of hand!"

"It was an accident," said Elsa. "Sorry, Anna."

The queen picked Anna up. "She's ice cold," she said.

"I know where we have to go," said the king.

Joy gasped. "See? Elsa's father knows what to do! Anna will be all right!" She looked back the screen. "I hope."

Soon, Elsa was on a horse, journeying with her parents and unconscious sister into the mountains. In her mind, Fear had taken the controls over from Sadness as he and the rest of the emotions anxiously awaited what was to happen.

The royal family eventually reached a clearing. The king called out for help, and the rocks around them began to roll towards them under their own volition.

"Um… this doesn't look good," said Fear. He gripped the controls even harder.

"But Elsa's father wouldn't take us into danger," said Joy.

"But rocks moving? That's not natural."

"And shooting ice out of your hands is?" said Disgust.

"Noted."

The rocks changed shape—or perhaps simply uncurled—and gained limbs and faces.

"Hold on," said Fear, "I think we have a memory of these—ah yes," he said, as it emerged from long term storage and was displayed on screen. It was a picture from a book that Elsa had read as part of her studies. "Trolls. Elusive but friendly."

"See?" said Joy.

The head troll approached. The king quickly explained about Elsa's powers and then presented him with Anna. "You're lucky it wasn't her heart," the head troll said. "The heart is not so easily changed, but the head can be persuaded."

"That _is_ lucky," said Joy. "This situation isn't as bad as we thought!" She seemed to be trying to convince herself by this point.

"I recommend we remove all magic, even memories of magic, to be safe."

"Wait, what?" said Joy.

"Aw, so Anna won't remember we have powers?" said Sadness. "That's a shame."

"Wait, so we can't even show our powers off?" said Anger. "That's not fair!"

"I agree," said Disgust.

"But it's for the best, isn't it?" said Joy. "I mean, if it'll save Anna…"

"Listen to me, Elsa," the head troll continued. "Your power will only grow. There is beauty in it, but also great danger." He illustrated this with lights in the sky. "You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy."

The emotions glanced at Fear.

"What?" he said. "They don't mean _me._ They mean the fear from _other_ people!"

"Ugh," said Anger. "I knew _your_ worrying over nothing was annoying, but I never considered _other_ people worrying over nothing."

"Hey, I don't fear things for no reason!" Fear said indignantly. "And neither do other people! They'll think Elsa's powers are dangerous! And they _are_ dangerous! Look what happened to Anna!"

"It _would_ be awful if that were

"So instead we'll _conceal_ our powers! Hide them! Control them! Stop using them lest they hurt somebody else! Maybe we'll accidentally shoot someone in the heart next time!"

"So we're just supposed to stop using our magic? How can we possibly do that?" said Joy. "I mean, there's a whole island devoted to it! We can't just ignore a core aspect of Elsa's personality like that! Something that makes her happy!"

"I think there was something in the manuals about that," Fear said, rushing over to them and quickly looking up the subject. "Yes, here it is: a memory, even a core one, can be changed from one emotion to another if the need arises. So if we take the core memory that forms Magic Powers Island and make it fearful, then we can easily avoid it just like we avoid everything _else_ that makes us fearful!"

"So, take a happy memory… and make her afraid of it? Is that really the best thing to do?"

"It's the _only_ thing to do," said Fear. "Otherwise, we'll have more memories like _that_." He pointed to Anna's unconscious form on the screen.

Joy gave a sigh. "I guess it is," she said. "Just do it quickly, please."

Fear tentatively approached the core memories. He found the one representing the day Elsa discovered her powers and touched it. Soon, its color turned from the yellow golden to joy to the purple of fear.

"Well, there goes our magic powers," Anger said grumpily.

"Good-bye, magic powers," Sadness said gloomily.

"It's for the good of Elsa and her loved ones," said Fear. "We can learn to live without them."

"Yeah!" said Joy. "I bet in a few weeks, we'll forget all about them!"


	2. Isolation

Elsa looked out the window. It was springtime, the sun was out, and flowers were beginning to bloom.

In the control center, Joy was operating the panel with a huge smile on her face. Despite everything that had happened, Elsa was still able to be happy. Maybe today they could finally go outside the castle, maybe take a walk through the garden…

Frost suddenly shot from Elsa's hands.

"Emergency!" shouted Fear. He pushed joy out of the way and quickly made Elsa's hands recoil.

 

* * *

 

Disgust crinkled her nose at the image onscreen: a gift from their father, meant to help Elsa's powers from flaring up so often.

"Gloves?" Disgust said. "I don't think those look very good on Elsa."

"Well, I'm sorry," said Fear disdainfully, "the safety of Elsa, her sister, and everybody else takes priority over whether you think she looks good or not."

"Well, what about other people? What if _they_ don't think they look good on her? She's a princess! She has an image to maintain!"

"Somehow, I don't think she'll be seeing a lot of other people," said Sadness quietly.

 

* * *

 

A couple years went by and the control panel in Elsa' mind was upgraded to one that accommodated all five emotions at once, with Fear in the center position. This was advantageous in situations like the one that was happening now, and with similar ones that happened with more frequency than any of the emotions cared for; Elsa was once again unable to keep her powers under control and had covered a corner of her room with frost.

Her parents were trying to comfort her, to no avail. Fear was too busy making sure that no one would be hurt by Elsa's powers and the other emotions not wanting to challenge him lest somebody _did_ get hurt.

"Getting upset only makes it worse," Elsa's father said. "Calm down…" He reached out as if to hold her.

"No!" Fear shouted. He pulled a lever and made Elsa pull away. "Joy, Sadness, I need you to make sure they know I did that to protect them, not because Else hates them or anything."

"On it," said Joy. She operated her controls to provide love for her parents while Sadness operated hers to provide sorrow over having to avoid them.

"Don't touch me. Please. I don't want to hurt you," said Elsa.

"You know," said Disgust, "I don't hate Elsa's parents, but I _hate_ being stuck in our room."

"That goes double for me," said Anger.

"Hey, buck up, guys," said Joy. "It's not so bad when our powers are under control! I've got a dose of relief all cued up once that happens!"

"Relief? Bah." Anger crossed his arms. "Can we really have true relief when we know that our magic could flare up again at any time without warning?"

"I can't say he's wrong," said Fear.

 

* * *

 

Elsa was now nineteen and was, in a rare event, outside her room. She wanted to see them before they left on their trip for the wedding of a royal couple in another country. Her parents had left the castle grounds before, but only for a few days at a time; to make this journey, they would have to be gone for over two weeks.

She gave a curtsy. "Do you have to go?" she asked. This question was prompted by a mixture of fear and sadness; thus, it was prompted by Fear and Sadness working as a team.

"You'll be fine, Elsa," her father said.

"Listen to Elsa's father," said Joy, turning to the others. "We'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

 

* * *

 

Elsa had not attended the funeral. There was too big a risk that her powers might act up, especially if distracted by feelings of grief. So she had instead been in her room, magical frost moving over the walls as she mourned, Sadness providing the emotions for her. This left Fear and the other emotions able to fret about the full implications of the king and queen's deaths.

"Elsa's going to have to be the queen now," Fear said anxiously. "Or at least, she will once she's twenty-one. The entire wellbeing of Arendelle will rest upon us. We'll have to deal with passing laws, negotiating treaties, appropriating funds—"

"And we haven't had any practice appearing in public," Disgust added. "What if we slip up and do something embarrassing?"

"Not to mention constantly having to worry about _this_." Fear gestured to the icy room on the screen.

There was a knock on the door. Fear jumped.

"Elsa?" It was Anna. "Please, I know you're in there. People at the funeral were asking where you were. They've also been telling me to have courage, and I've been trying to, but… Elsa? I'm right here for you, if you'd just let me. After all, we only have each other now."

"I _would_ be nice to have someone to turn to," said Sadness. "I mean, before, we could have turned to the king and queen, but…"

Fear shook his head. "No, no, no. It's much too dangerous. Look at this room! Our powers are out of control. We can't lose Elsa's sister so soon after losing her parents."

"Lousy powers," said Anger. "They're always making us miss out on things. Playtimes, parties, comforting sessions…"

Anna, through the door, spoke again: "Do you want to build a snowman?

Joy looked at the snow and ice that covered her room. "I kind of do, actually…"

"Me too," said Fear. "But we can't."

"I know." She sighed. "I hope Anna leaves soon."


	3. Coronation Day

Elsa stared out her window at the parade of guests that were filing in from off the boats. Fear stared at the same sight through the control room screen.

"Alright, remember," Fear said to the others, "showing a little nervousness is okay. Perhaps even expected. It's Elsa's coronation, after all. But we can't look afraid, even if we are. Not only would that be improper for a ruler, watchers may suspect we have something greater to fear than simply the crown, which we do: i.e., our powers."

"Well, all of that falls on you," said Disgust.

"I know, I know," said Fear, despairing. "And it's worse knowing that those powers could act up without warning at any moment."

Elsa moved away from the window and instead looked at the portrait of her father that commemorated his own coronation. One hand held a scepter; the other a golden orb. Both hands were bare.

On the table below the portrait were a candle and a decorative box, facsimiles of the artifacts that would be used during the ceremony. Elsa slowly removed her gloves and picked the objects up.

"Alright," said Fear. "Now, just hold them… conceal, don't feel…"

The emotions let out a groan as, despite their best efforts, the items Elsa held frosted over. That was the problem—the more they tried to hold her powers in, it seemed, the more they seemed to flow back out.

"We're not going to be able to do it," said Sadness. "Something's going to happen."

"And in front of all those dignitaries," Disgust added.

"They'll think we're a monster," said Anger. "They'll drive us out of our kingdom. They may even hunt us down and destroy us."

"Hey, nothing has happened yet," said Joy. "We can't get upset over mere possibilities."

"Probabilities, more likely," said Fear. "Having to control our magic for so long, among so many people…"

"Well, it's only for today," Joy said. "After that, we can go back up to our room and take visitors only when we feel like we can handle it."

"But will we be able to make it through today in order to do so?"

"We have to at least try," said Joy. "Let's have the guards open up the gates."

 

* * *

 

The ceremony was perfectly lovely, though Fear was too vigilant in making sure nothing went wrong for Elsa to enjoy it. She had attempted to tactfully keep her gloves on throughout, but unfortunately, the priest had noticed and did what he thought was reminding him to take them off. This had been a tense moment for the entire control room crew, not just Fear; the items she held actually began to freeze. Thankfully, the priest's benediction was short enough that she was able to place them back and put her gloves on again before anyone noticed.

As rituals concluded, in the control room of her mind, a shiny, purple memory rolled its way down the ramp towards the device with the rest of the core memories. Outside, a new Island of Personality was formed, settling in between Leadership and Etiquette.

"Queenhood," remarked Sadness. "I don't know if we should consider this a good thing or a bad thing."

"It's an inevitable thing," said Fear. "But at least the worst part is over. All we need to do now is make it through tonight's celebrations."

"Hey, lighten up!" Joy said. "Elsa will be wearing her gloves! We'll be able to relax and have fun!"

"Well, not _too_ much fun," Disgust said. "We're still need to maintain the proper decorum, after all."

 

* * *

 

Proper decorum was indeed maintained as the new queen was announced and stood at the front of the room, soon joined by Princess Anna. Once the room was done with applauding and had gone back to dancing, Elsa glanced over at her sister.

"It's been a long time since we actually spoke to her, isn't it?" Sadness asked.

"It has," said Joy. "Luckily this is the perfect moment to actually do so!"

So Elsa said hi, and Anna said hi back.

"Ooh!" said Joy. "Now let's compliment her!"

"You look beautiful," Elsa said.

"Thank you," said Anna. "You look beautifuller. I mean, not fuller. You don't look fuller, but more beautiful."

"Wow," said Disgust. "I hope she's not too embarrassed by that, because I'm embarrassed enough for her."

"Oh, we know what she meant," said Joy. "And what she meant was a compliment." She pulled a lever.

"Thanks," Elsa said. She took in her surroundings. "So, this is what a party looks like."

"Warmer than I thought," said Anna.

"And what is that amazing smell?" Elsa said. In her mind, Joy had been searching through the olfactory memories until she found the appropriate one.

"Chocolate," Elsa said. At the same moment, Anna had also recognized and verbally identified the scent. The two sisters giggled.

"This is going really well," said Joy.

"Your Majesty," said Kai, one of the few servants who had been retained after the accident in the two sisters' youth. "The Duke of Weaseltown."

"Weselton," the Duke grumpily corrected before composing himself. He addressed Elsa. "Your Majesty, as your closest partner in trade, it seems only fitting that I offer you your first dance as queen." He demonstrated a wild dance and then gave a deep bow, his toupee detaching slightly.

"Oh, wow," said Disgust. "If this is the kind of thing we have to deal with at these events, I'm kind of glad that we were shut up in our room for so long. Hold on." She went over to the idea bulb bin and pulled one out, then stuck it in the console.

"Thank you," said Elsa, "but I don't dance. But my sister does."

Anna gave a little chuckle before realizing the full implications of her sister's statement. The Duke pulled her onto the ballroom floor, causing her to cast desperate, pleading, yet playful looks at Elsa.

"It's a shame we foisted the Duke onto Anna," Sadness said.

"Maybe, but I _really_ didn't want to dance with him," said Disgust.

The dance ended and Anna made her way back, rubbing her sore heels.

"Oh no!" Fear said. "We didn't cause her pain, did we?"

"Let's find out," said Sadness, pressing a button on the console that released sympathy.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked.

"I've never been better," said Anna. "This is so nice. I wish it could be like this all the time."

"Me too," Joy sighed happily.

"But it can't," said Fear, using the control panel to remind Elsa of everything that was at risk.

"Sadly," said Sadness.

"Why not?" Anna asked on the screen.

"Why's she being so nosy?" Anger said. "Asking all of these questions—"

"Why can't she understand that we're doing this for her own safety?" said Fear.

"Because she doesn't know the accident or Elsa's powers because her memories were altered?" Disgust said sarcastically.

"You're not helping!" Anger yelled.

"Well, excuse me for answering a stupid question," Disgust retorted.

And as those three emotions were arguing, Sadness had taken over the controls. Joy just sat there, watching Anna disappear into the crowd, no longer able to enjoy the party.


	4. The Argument

Although the altercation with her sister was a blow, with all the dignitaries around, and the newly-formed Queenhood Island running at full force, Elsa had plenty of things to distract her from it. As the evening went on, she was even beginning to—well, enjoy herself wasn't the right word. Sadness wasn't operating her controls as strongly, sure, but Joy was only doing the bare minimum in operating hers. But she wasn't feeling as bad. In fact, when Anna finally showed up again, Sadness did not feel the need to send a fresh wave of sullenness to Elsa. It helped that Anna looked like she had herself become much happier in the last few hours.

"Elsa!" Anna called. "I mean, Queen." She curtsied. "Me again. May I present Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." She indicated a young man who accompanied her.

"Hans of the Southern Isles?" Fear asked. "Do we know him?"

Disgust glanced through the memories that had been sent up. "The Southern Isles are one of our allies, but there's no recollection of any Prince Hans. Eh, not important."

"Your majesty," Hans said. "We would like—" he paused, giggling, as Anna had spoken at the same time as him. "Your blessing…of our marriage."

The emotions did a double-take. "Marriage?" Fear said in incredulity. "But Anna couldn't possibly have met him before tonight."

"This is _not_ a good idea," Disgust said.

"It's an awful idea," Anger concurred.

"Maybe it's a misunderstanding?" Joy wondered. "Let's ask for some clarification."

"I'm sorry, I'm confused," Elsa said.

"Well," Anna said, "we haven't worked out all the details ourselves. We'll need a few days to plan the ceremony. Of course we'll have soup, roast, and ice cream and then—"

"It's not a misunderstanding," Joy moaned.

"We could invite all of Hans' twelve brothers to stay with us!" Anna said.

"Okay, _no_ ," Disgust said. "No one's brothers are staying here. No one is getting married."

"Wait, what?" Anna said.

"Let's just…talk to her and explain that you can't tell if you're compatible with someone only a few hours after meeting them," said Fear.

"May I talk to you please?" Elsa asked. "Alone?"

"No," said Anna. "Whatever you have to say, you can say to both of us."

"So, you want to be like that, huh?" Anger said. "We were trying to be tactful, but you want us to be blunt? Then we'll be blunt!"

"You can't marry someone you just met," Elsa said bluntly.

"You can if it's true love!"

"What?" said Disgust. "That's ridiculous! What does she know of true love?"

"What do you know of true love?" Elsa said.

"More than you!" said Anna. "All you know how to do is shut people out."

"Ouch," said Joy.

"It's kind of true, though," said Sadness.

"No it isn't!" Anger yelled. "We only shut her out because it's for her own good! And we're not giving any wedding our blessing because it's also for her own good!"

"And we might not be able to tell her about how Elsa's powers put her in danger, but marrying a total stranger? That's just common sense."

"I think this Hans guy should leave," said Disgust. "In fact, everyone should leave." On the screen, Elsa walked away, telling the guards that the party was over and to shut the gates again.

"Elsa!" Anna cried. "No, wait!" She attempted to grab her sister's hand, but instead, the glove came off.

"Our glove!" Fear exclaimed. "Without it, we may lose control of our powers! Anna could get hurt!"

"I think she's already hurt," said Sadness. "Look."

Anna clutched her sister's glove, tears forming in her eyes. "Please," she said, "I can't live like this anymore!"

"And I don't really want her to live like this either," said Joy. "I don't think any of us want that."

"Well, she _has_ to live like this if she wants to stay here," said Anger. "If she doesn't, why doesn't she just leave?"

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," said Fear. "Elsa has to stay here and be queen; but Anna could go to some castle where the ruler doesn't have to have the gates shut in order to hide their powers."

"It'd be the best thing for her," said Sadness. "She'd be both safe and happy."

"It's settled then," Disgust said. She pressed a button and Elsa told Anna, perhaps a bit more bitterly than most of the emotions intended, to leave.

"Well," said Sadness, "back to our room to cry."

Before she could exit, though, Anna spoke again. "What did I ever do to you?"

"More questions?" Anger grumbled. "Why can't she just do what we say?"

"Enough, Anna," Elsa said sternly.

"No. Why? Why do you shut me out? Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?"

"STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!" Anger yelled, slamming his fists down on the console. This caused Elsa to turn around in a fit of frustration, giving a gesture of aggression. Magic shot from her hand; spikes of ice grew from the floor.

"Uh oh," said Sadness.

"This is bad, this is bad, this is really really bad!" Fear cried, frantically pressing every button on the console he could reach, causing Elsa to flee the castle. Unfortunately, this put her right in the middle of a throng of commoners, all excited at the chance to meet their new queen, unaware of the danger that she posed.

Unaware, that is, until Elsa bumped into the square's fountain, freezing the water into an abstract sculpture.

"There she is!" a voice cried. The Duke of Weselton appeared in the castle doorway, giving orders to his personal guards to stop her.

"Keep away!" said Fear. "I don't want to hurt anyone! Just keep away!" But still, a blast of magic flew from her hand, blasting the castle's steps and knocking the Duke and his entourage off balance.

"Monster!" the Duke cried. "Monster!"

"No!" Fear cried. "Elsa just can't control her powers! She's not a monster!"

"Is she?" Sadness pondered. On screen, the townspeople recoiled from their queen, fearful of what she could do to them, accidentally or otherwise.

Elsa ran away, out of the village until she reached the fjord.

"We're trapped!" Fear despaired. "We'll be caught and branded a monster, locked up in our own dungeon or worse!"

"No, look!" said Joy. "The water is freezing beneath our feet! We could probably get to the other side that way!"

"Really?" Fear said. Elsa tentatively tested this idea out, and when it was proven to be sound, she ran across, finally escaping any pursuers.

Disgust turned and glared at Anger. "This is _your_ fault!" she said. "You couldn't keep your cool with Anna, and so she lost control and turned everything to ice!"

"Hey, she was needling us with questions," Anger retorted. "What were we supposed to do, actually answer them? Say that we have magic snow powers?"

"Well, she knows now," said Sadness. "Everyone does."

The emotions watched as Fear steered Elsa towards the mountains.

 


	5. Let it Go

The snow glowed white on the mountain as Elsa trudged up it. She had been walking for miles, for hours, until she had traveled so far away from Arendelle that she had reached a place where it was cold without the influence of her magic. This was a remote part of the countryside, where the only footprints that could be seen were her own.

"This is awful!" Fear cried. "What are we going to do now?"

"And the evening had been going so well," said Sadness. "But now? Self-imposed exile."

"Self-Imposed? Hah!" Anger said. "If we hadn't gotten out of there, they would have _made_ us go away! Or worse!" He slumped down in his seat. "Stupid powers. Stupid Duke. Stupid frightened townspeople," he muttered.

"Well, say hello to a life even worse than before," said Disgust.

"Wait," said Joy. She had sitting quietly in her seat during the journey, but she suddenly perked her head up. "This might actually a good thing."

"A good thing?" Fear said incredulously. "How could getting run out from our own kingdom by a frightened populace due to dangerous ice powers possibly be a good thing?"

"Well," said Joy, "what were the two things that kept Elsa isolated in her room for all those years?"

"The possibility that someone would discover her powers," said Fear, "and the possibility those powers would hurt somebody."

"And now neither of those things are a problem!" Joy exclaimed. "Everybody knows about the powers now, but we've managed to flee from any mobs that might have formed!"

"But what if they come after Elsa?" Fear asked.

"Why would they? No one was seriously hurt, and we're far enough away that coming after us wouldn't be worth it. At worst, the soldiers will be on guard for the next few weeks in case their monstrous queen decides to attack. But since we have no intention of coming back, they'll be no problem! And as for hurting somebody, just look around! We're the only human for miles! Maybe the only living thing for miles! The only things we could freeze up here are already frozen naturally!"

"But we'll be away from everything and everyone we know," said Sadness.

"Would it really be that much different than if we stayed?" said Joy. "After tonight, we would just head back to our room and stay away from everybody and try to keep our powers reigned in. Now, we can stay away from everybody and let our powers out! We don't have worry about anybody finding out or getting hurt!" She paused. "Fear, you said that a memory's mood could be changed if the need arose, right?"

"You're not planning on doing on what I think you are, are you?" Fear asked.

"I am indeed!" Joy raised the platform where the core memories resided and found the one that represented Elsa's powers. "Ever since we accidentally hurt Anna, we had to keep our powers to ourselves. 'Don't let them see. Be a good girl. Conceal, don't feel'. It was awful. But now… we can just let it go."

She touched the memory; a wave of energy was sent through it, turning it back to its original happy yellow color.

"See?" said Joy. "Now Elsa can use her powers again without associating them with fear!"

"And we don't need _this_ anymore," said Disgust, indicating the unmatched glove Elsa was wearing. She pressed a button; on the screen, Elsa took it off and flung it to be carried away by the wind.

"That's the spirit!" Joy said. The core memory platform lowered back down and she went back to the console, gleefully allowing Elsa to intentionally use her powers for the first time in years, even making that snowman Anna had requested long ago.

"It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small," said Joy. "All the problems we had, all the worries—they're long gone!"

"Hey, Joy," said Fear. "If there's no need for Elsa to fear her magic now… why don't you take the head seat at the console?"

"Really?" said Joy, beaming.

"Sure," Fear said, offering his seat to an eager Joy. "Though I have to point out that Elsa's magic is just one aspect of her personality," said Fear. "What are we going to do about Leadership? Etiquette? Queenhood? Those seem pretty pointless without a kingdom."

"Then we'll create our own kingdom!" Joy exclaimed. "It's time to see what we can do on her own! Out here, we can decide for ourselves what leadership means, what etiquette means, what queenhood means!"

"No right, no wrong, no rules!" Anger exclaimed.

"And no capes!" Once again, Disgust made Elsa discard one of her accessories. "I never really liked this stuffy royal garb."

Elsa reached a cliff. "This looks like a good place to put a palace," Joy said. Testing the extent of her powers, Elsa, guided by her emotions, formed a rough, snowy staircase which she then polished into smooth ice. She climbed it, and at the top, she started work on her new home, the design of which was headed by Joy's delight over the very act of creation and Disgust's views on what constituted beauty in architecture. Fear gave a little input as well, making sure it was structurally sound (or at least as structurally sound as a castle made out of frozen water could be). Floors, columns, and chandeliers, inspired by the shape of a snowflake, appeared.

Once she was done, Elsa took off her tiara and looked at it.

"I guess there's no reason to keep this either," said Sadness. "It's not that comfortable, and it's a painful reminder of…things."

"Like our subjects running us out of our own kingdom," Anger grumbled. "They should have respected us. Instead, they feared us. We weren't even trying to make us fear them!"

"Let it go, Anger," said Sadness. "The past is in the past. We're not going to go back to them, so why should we care what they think of us? This is our home now."

"New home, new look," said Disgust. "Getting rid of the glove and cape weren't enough. Let's make an outfit that fits this décor better."

Elsa reached up and let her braided hair, previously worn high, fall down over her shoulder. Then, she cast her magic and transformed her dull purple and green dress into a shiny blue one, a long cape flowing behind her.

"Wait, we can use our powers to make outfits?" Anger asked incredulously.

"Apparently!" said Joy.

"I thought you said no capes?" Fear said.

"I changed my mind," said Disgust.

Elsa walked out on the brand new balcony, taking in the view as the sun rose over a new day.

"I think Elsa will be happy living here in a fortress of ice," said Joy. "No secrets we have to hide, no decorum we have to follow, no people we could hurt… it's a bit cold up here, but then again, the cold never bothered her anyway."

 


	6. A Familiar Visitor

Elsa was living quite comfortably by herself in her new palace. It was a bit lonely, but it wasn't that much lonelier than how she lived when growing up, isolated in her room. Then again, without the brief encounters with what few people who had remained in the castle, there were no reminders of how lonely she actually was.

"Isn't this great?" Joy said. "No fear, no worries... just complete freedom."

"Freedom we gained because we no longer have anything to care about," Sadness noted. "No subjects to rule over, no duties, no responsibilities…"

"You say it like that's a bad thing," Anger said.

"Hey! Cheer up, Sadness!" Joy said. "We made a new kingdom! Our own little kingdom of one! We're still able to power up most of Elsa's Islands of Personality!"

"Except for Anna Island," Sadness noted.

"Well, you can't have it all," said Joy. "Besides, it hasn't seen much action since we were little anyway. Elsa went for ten years barely seeing her sister; she'll be able to go fifty years more not seeing her at all it won't be that big a loss. Considering the circumstances, it may even be good that Anna's out of Elsa's life now."

Just then, a voice echoed through the castle from the front hall: "Elsa? It's me, Anna!"

Joy gasped. "It's Anna!" she cried happily. "Anna's here to visit us!"

"I though you said that it was a good thing that Anna was out of Elsa's life," Disgust remarked.

"That was when I thought she _was_ out of her life," said Joy.

"Well, she _should_ be," said Fear. "For safety's sake."

"We'll just explain that we must stay here for everyone's safety," Joy said. "Then Anna can go back to Arendelle, marry Hans, and rule in our stead."

Elsa emerged to the balcony of the main entrance. She saw her sister at the bottom of the stairs, wearing a warm outfit and steadying herself on the slippery floor. "Anna!"

Anna looked up and gasped. "Elsa, you look different," she said. "It's a _good_ different. And this place is amazing."

"It _is_ pretty cool, isn't it?" said Elsa's Joy.

"Thank you," Elsa said. "I never knew what I was capable of."

"I'm so sorry about what happened," said Anna, starting to climb up to her. "If I'd known—"

"She's coming towards us!" Fear exclaimed. "We're too dangerous! We have to halt her!"

"But politely," said Sadness. "And contritely. It'd probably be best if I contribute most of the control inputs for this conversation."

"No, no, it's okay," said Elsa. "You don't have to apologize. But you should probably go. Please."

"But I just got here!"

"I feel really sorry for her," said Sadness. "Coming all this way to see her sister and then we turn her away immediately."

"It's for the best," said Fear. "A little sorrow now would prevent a lot of distress later. For both of us."

"I was right the first time," said Joy. "It would have been better if she had stayed out of our life."

"You belong down in Arendelle," said Elsa.

"So do you."

"She still doesn't get it, does she?" said Anger. "I mean, at least before she didn't _know_ Elsa had incredibly dangerous magical ice powers. But she does now and she _still_ can't understand why Elsa has to isolate herself!"

"Calm down, Anger," Fear cautioned. "Getting upset it was caused the incident at the party in the first place."

"No, I belong here," Elsa replied. "Alone. Where I can be who I am without hurting anybody."

"Actually, about that…"

Before Anna could continue, however, she was interrupted by the voice of another figure entering the castle. As it came closer, Elsa could see that it was a small creature made from snow, accessorized by twigs, coal, and a carrot nose, very much resembling the snowman that she had made with her magic just a few days ago.

"Hi!" the creature shouted. "I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

"Okay, how is this even possible?" Disgust said.

"I think we might have done it," said Fear. "But it's still really, really weird."

"You built, me, remember?" Olaf said.

"And you're alive?" Elsa asked.

Olaf looked himself over. "Um… I think so?"

"Amazing," said Joy. "We really _didn't_ know what Elsa was capable of."

"He's just like the one we built as kids," Anna said. "We were so close. We can be like that again."

"We _were_ close, weren't we?" Joy said. "Those days were so nice."

"But those days are over, and you know why!" Fear interjected. He used the console to pull up the terrible memory of the day from Elsa's childhood when she had almost killed Anna with her magic.

"You're right," said Sadness. She reluctantly pushed a button on her console; Fear pressed a button on his as well.

"No, we can't," Elsa said. "Good-bye, Anna." She turned around to head back to the castle's inner chambers.

"Elsa, wait—"

"No, I'm just trying to protect you."

"You don't have to protect me," Anna said, following her sister. I'm not afraid. Please don't shut me out again. I finally understand _why_ you did it…. But now that I know about your powers, now that everybody knows, we can find a way for you to control them. We can figure it out together. You don't have to be afraid of them, because I'll be right there with you."

"If only that were true," said Fear. "But Elsa's powers are simply too dangerous for her to be around other people. It'd be best for everyone if she stays here."

"And it'd be best for Anna to go back to Arendelle without us," said Joy. "She can be happy there, especially now that visitors don't have to be barred from the castle anymore."

"She's better off there," said Sadness, "and Elsa's better off here. She doesn't have to hide, and she doesn't have to worry about hurting anyone. She may be alone, but at least she's free. But Anna doesn't have to be alone, so she can live out herself with others. She needn't worry about Elsa so much."

"Go back and tell the entire kingdom that if they just stay away from me, they'll be safe," Elsa said.

"Actually, we're not safe."

"Wait, not safe?" Fear said. "What… what does she mean by that?"

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked.

"You kind of set off eternal winter… everywhere."

Elsa's emotions sat in shock. "She… she doesn't mean what I think she means, does she?" Fear said, knowing fully well that she did, indeed, mean what he thought she meant. Snow starting falling inside as Elsa's grip on her powers started to loosen.

"It's okay," said Anna. "You can just unfreeze it."

"No we can't!" Fear yelled. "We only know how to use Elsa's power to freeze, not thaw! I mean, I thought that running away would mean _not_ hurting anybody, but as it turns out, running away hurt everyone more than we ever thought possible!" He paused. "I'm going to change Elsa's core memory again," he said, getting out of his seat.

"What? Hey, wait!" said Joy, hopping up herself.

As Joy and Fear argued about what mood Elsa's powers should put her in, the other three emotions watched on screen as Anna tried in vain to convince her sister she was, in fact, able to reverse her inadvertent curse on Arendelle.

"She's kind of rubbing it in how much we messed up, isn't she?" said Disgust.

"Not on purpose," said Sadness. "She's legitimately trying to cheer us up and tell us we can fix it. But yes, it's kind of just rubbing it in as to how we can't."

"And she just keeps _going and going_ ," said Anger, "and she just _won't stop!_ "

"We can change this, Elsa," said Anna, "and everything will be—"

In the control room, Fear turned the core memory regarding Elsa's magic back to purple.

"WE CAN'T!" Anger shouted, slamming his fists down on the console.

The snow whirling around Elsa melded together and shot out as shards of ice magic in all directions. Turning around, she saw her sister crumpled on the ground.

"Oh no," said Sadness.

Fear rushed back to the controls. "What did you do?" he fretted.

"I was _trying_ to get Anna to go away!" Anger said. "It's not my fault she never listens."

"Anna!" a voice called as a young man ran in. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," said Anna as the stranger helped her to her feet. "I'm fine."

"What?" said Disgust. "Who's _this_ guy?"

"It doesn't matter," Anger said. "He's going to leave soon too."

"You have to go," Elsa said.

"No," said Anna. "I know we can figure this out together—"

"How? What power do you have to stop this winter? To stop me?"

"I mean, what could _she_ possibly do that we couldn't do ourselves?"

"I'm not leaving without you, Elsa," said Anna.

"Yes she is," said Anger. "Hold on." He grabbed an idea bulb and stuck in the console. This made Elsa create a giant snow creature, much larger than Olaf, which grabbed the visitors and forcibly escorted them outside.

"Well," said Joy, "at least they're no longer in danger from us."

"Not directly, no," said Fear. "They just have to worry about going back to a kingdom that we inadvertently plunged into eternal winter."

"Maybe it'll thaw on its own?"

"Well, nothing we can do about it," said Sadness. "All we can do stay here and feel miserable."

"Just like growing up," Disgust grumbled.

 


	7. Battle at the Castle

"We have to get it together!" Fear shouted. "We need get Elsa's powers back under control! Don't feel! Don't feel!"

"You realize the irony of telling us that, right?" Disgust remarked.

"It doesn't seem to be working, either," said Sadness. On the screen, they watched as spikes of ice grew larger and larger, transforming the chamber she was in from one of peace to one of anxiety.

Elsa's senses picked up a commotion from outside. "What was that?" Fear cried.

"How should we know?" said Anger. "We'll only find out if, you know, we actually go and _investigate_!"

"Right, so let's do that!" Joy said.

Elsa hurried downstairs and peeked out the front doors to see a squadron of soldiers fighting against the giant snow guardian of the castle.

"This is terrible!" Fear cried, making Elsa shut the doors again. "When Anna's diplomacy failed—when Elsa hurt her _own sister_ —well, this must have been plan 'B'! They're here to take her back to Arendelle by force—and, when they find out we can't unfreeze it, they'll toss her in the dungeon! Or worse!"

"It probably won't come to that," said Joy. "The ice creature will scare them off, and then we can run away and make a new castle in an even _more_ remote area!"

Through the translucent walls, they saw two of the men—the bodyguards of the Duke of Wesselton—slip past the golem and race up the stairs. Their crossbows were out, and it didn't appear that they were open to negotiations.

"Or not," said Joy.

Elsa tried to run, but she hadn't designed the palace with that situation in mind, so she soon found herself in a room with no escape and her pursuers soon closed in. One of them fired his crossbow right at her. In the control room, Fear pressed the panic button—and the bolt was blocked by a rising sheet of ice.

"Good job, Fear!" Joy congratulated.

"What? That wasn't me," said Fear. "I just altered the mood—I wasn't trying to use magic. It was just another example of how uncontrollable Elsa's powers are."

"Well, in this case, her uncontrollable powers came in handy!"

"Uh, guys?" said Disgust. "We shouldn't celebrate just yet."

"Right, right!" said Fear. "I guess we should actually _control_ her powers."

He did so, making Elsa blast ice at her attackers.

"Be careful!" Sadness cried. "We don't want to hurt them!"

"They're trying to hurt _us_!" Anger shouted.

"Only because they think we'll hurt them!"

"Well, we _will_ hurt them! I mean, _they're_ the ones who followed us here! Why couldn't they just leave us be?"

"Yeah!" said Joy. "We were finally happy!"

"And it's clear they aren't going to stop until we make them," said Fear.

"Right!" said Disgust. "No more holding back!"

And so, disregarding Sadness's meek protests, the other emotions set to work. Elsa launched a bevy of icicles at one, pinning him to the wall, with one pointed at his throat; the other one she pushed with a wall of ice so that he teetered over the edge of the balcony.

"Queen Elsa!" a voice from behind her called out. It was Anna's fiancé, Hans; he and the rest of the men had managed to enter the castle. "Don't be the monster they fear you are."

"…he's right," Disgust said. "Defending ourselves is one thing, but killing them…"

Anger grumbled. "Having all this power literally at our fingertips and not being able to do a thing with it—another reason actually _having_ it is so _frustrating!_ "

"Sure," said Joy, "but if we show restraint, then maybe they'll realize we just want to be left alone. So I think Sadness should be in charge for the time being."

"I probably should have been in charge for the past few minutes, actually," Sadness said. "But yes, if this is a preclude to more negotiation, I think—"

She was interrupted. Looking around, Elsa saw that the man she had pinned to the wall had aimed his crossbow at her, but that Hans had deflected it; the bolt instead hit the ceiling, knocking loose the chandelier, which came crashing down.

"I think I should be in charge again now!" Fear shouted, slamming down on all of his buttons. Elsa tried to escape, but she slid on the ice, and—

 

* * *

 

The emotions in the control room slowly got to their feet. "What happened?" Disgust asked. "And why is it so dark on the screen?"

"I think we got knocked unconscious," said Sadness.

"And by the looks of it, we're back in Arendelle," Joy added. "In the castle dungeon, to be precise."

"What?" Fear shouted. "Unconscious? Dungeon? We've got to get back to the mountains!"

As Elsa's eyes adjusted, she noticed a window in the cell, and ran towards it—only to stopped by the metal cuffs that covered her hands and chained her to the wall.

"And we're shackled!" Fear wailed. "We can't even use our powers to escape!"

"Look, everybody just calm down," said Joy. "Let's just assess one things at a time."

Reaching as far as she could, Elsa looked out the window. It was low to the ground and allowed a view of the harbor—except, instead of being liquid as it was supposed to be, it was instead a sheet of thick ice.

"…We did that," said Sadness.

"And now we're imprisoned because of it!" shouted Anger. "Maybe we should change that one core memory to red, so that every time Elsa thinks about her powers, she'll remember all the _awful, unfair_ things that happened because of them!"

"I think purple is good enough for now," said Joy.

The door to the cell opened, making Fear jump; but it was only Hans.

So Anger took over.

"Why did you bring me here?" Elsa demanded.

"I couldn't just let them kill you," Hans replied.

"I guess that's fair," said Sadness. "But we're a danger to Arendelle."

"You think this random whosit will listen to us?" Anger said. "We need to talk to Anna!"

"Anna has not returned," Hans said.

Elsa's emotions stood silent.

"Anna… the storm…" Fear said softly.

"If you would just stop the winter… bring back summer… please," said Hans.

Sadness shook her head. "Can't he see? We can't! If we could, we would, but… we just can't."

"You have to tell them to let me go," said Elsa.

"I will do what I can," said Hans. He exited, leaving her alone in her cell.

Elsa looked down at her cuffs. They were frosting over. Not even they could stop the curse.


	8. Thaw a Frozen Heart

Elsa watched as her magic spread throughout her cell, coating everything with frost, getting into every crevice and expanding into ice.

"Maybe… just a little more…" Fear said. "If it's cold enough, our shackles—and the wall itself—will crack open, and then we can escape!"

"But should we escape?" asked Sadness. "Maybe we _should_ be locked up like this, try to keep our powers in check again. Running away didn't keep people from being hurt."

"Let's face it, there are _no_ good solutions to this," said Anger. "It's not like we know how to end this winter. But if we go far away, and if no one comes after us _this_ time, then the citizens can move to someplace our curse _hasn't_ touched!"

"And we have to find Anna," said Joy. "If we can at least make sure she's all right, then living in exile won't be as bad!"

Elsa heard voices approaching. "She's dangerous," they said. "Move quickly and with resolve."

"Exactly!" said Fear. "We've got to move quickly and with resolve! Before those people get here!"

Elsa gathered up as much energy as she could and exerted her powers, breaking off her cuffs and making the wall crumble down. Then, before the guards could enter her cell, she fled outside, into the storm.

 

* * *

 

"Exactly what's our plan?" Disgust asked.

"First of all, make sure Anna's safe," said Fear. "And get far enough away so that our powers stop making things worse around here. And try not to get captured again."

"That's not much of a plan," said Anger.

"Hey, you said yourself there are no good solutions!" said Fear. "I'm just trying to find a way to protect both Elsa and everyone she loves!"

"I hate to say it, but maybe we shouldn't look for Anna?" said Sadness. "I mean, she was with that man, so she might be okay still. And if try to help her, we'd probably just make things worse."

"Well, whatever we do," said Disgust, "we need to make sure we're not captured and put in prison again at the very least."

"Elsa!" a voice cried out. Looking behind her, Elsa saw that it was Hans. "You can't run from this!"

"We're not running," said Anger, "we're just… well, maybe we are running."

"But it's for a good reason," said Fear. "To keep everyone safe. And also to not get captured again, I guess. But mostly to keep everyone—especially Anna—safe."

"Anna! Right," said Sadness. "Well, without Elsa, someone has to look out for her, right? And this Hans—well, he shouldn't have proposed so soon, but he might be the right person for her nonetheless."

So Elsa told Hans to take care of her sister.

"Your sister? She returned from the mountain weak and cold. She said you froze her heart."

The emotions blanched. "He doesn't mean what I think he means, right?" said Fear.

"Maybe it isn't that bad," said an uncertain Joy. "Maybe she can recover? Maybe when we go away, she can get better?"

"I tried to save her," Hans continued, "but it was too late. Her skin was ice, her hair turned white… Your sister is dead… because of you."

The emotions sat unmoving, unable to speak from the enormity of the announcement, free from ambiguity and leaving no room for interpretation: Anna was dead, frozen, and it was due to Elsa's powers.

Then, Fear started laughing. Anger glared at him. "What is _wrong_ with you?"

"Anna's dead!" Fear shouted hysterically. "For so long I was trying to keep Elsa from hurting Anna with her powers, and it happened anyway! It was all completely pointless!" He stood up from his seat, a manic grin on his face. "And so, Sadness, I leave everything over to you and wish you the best of luck!" He began prancing around the room.

"Well, he's completely lost it," said Disgust.

"He'll calm back down in a bit," said Sadness, moving to Fear's vacated center seat and manipulating the controls so the mood sphere was filled with pure mournfulness. "We'll need him after this initial grieving process, so Elsa can worry about what comes next."

Elsa fell to the ground, weeping; her unconscious control over the storm broke, and the snow fell from the air. She took no notice of this, but remained slumped down, and she wept, and wept…

Something—some blast of magic—happened behind her, rousing her briefly from her grief. Looking up, she saw Anna, frozen into a statue of pure ice, posed as if shielding her sibling from some blow.

"Gah!" shouted Anger. "We didn't need visual confirmation!"

"Wait, how did she get out here?" Disgust asked. "Didn't Hans say she already froze? And Hans is…" She thought for a moment. "Wait a minute! Hans lied to us! He was trying to kill us!"

"We can deal with him later," said Sadness. "Right now we need to slow things down, take things one at a time. It's not healthy to try to hold our feelings back."

"Wish you could have told us that when we were growing up," Joy murmured.

Sadness paused. "I wish that too," said Sadness. "But we shouldn't dwell too hard on the past. Just learn from our mistakes and apply them to the future."

Joy nodded. "And that way, we can move on."

"And then pummel Hans for whatever he did!" Anger said. He glanced around. "But yeah, let's cry over Anna first."

Elsa clung to her sister and sobbed. But then, the cold, hard ice gave way to cloth and flesh; and the statue _moved._

"Wait, what's going on?" said Fear, nearing the console again. "Is Anna… _alive_?"

Joy gasped. "She is!" she cried. "She's alive!"

The two sisters embraced. "You sacrificed yourself to save me?" Elsa asked.

"…I love you," Anna said as a way of explanation.

"An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart," said Olaf, who had approached the scene.

"Love?" said Fear, confused, as he sat back down. "Love… will thaw…"

"Love!" cried Joy. "That's it!" She grabbed an idea bulb and stuck it into the slot.

Elsa raised her arms and began working her magic—not to create cold and chilly weather, but to remove it. And it worked: the snow that covered Arendelle did not merely melt, but dissipated altogether; its fountains unfroze; the sun came out again. Everyone who was out on the ice during the storm found themselves on the deck of a ship that been trapped underneath. The curse was lifted.

Anna smiled at her sister. "I knew you could do it," she said.

"It's a good thing she believed we could," said Fear, "because we sure didn't."

"Hands down, this is the best day of my life," said Olaf, who, as it was no longer cold, was beginning to melt. "And quite possibly the last."

"Er, we should probably fix that," said Disgust.

"We should," said Joy, giggling.

Elsa waved her hands and made a constantly-snowing cloud to follow Olaf around. "My own personal flurry," the snowman said happily.

Their attentions were caught by Hans, who was getting to his feet nearby.

"Oh yeah, this guy," said Anger. "Can we deal with him now? Maybe use our powers to _intentionally_ hurt someone?"

"Hold on, guys," said Sadness. "Look." The watched on the screen as Anna approached her former fiancé, told him he had a frozen heart, and knocked him overboard with a solid punch.

Disgust grinned. "No less than he deserved," she said.

Anna returned to her sister and gave her a large hug; and needless to say, the emotion that was in charge during that gesture was Joy.


	9. Epilogue

Once Elsa was safely back in charge of Arendelle, she ordered Hans arrested and shipped back to the Southern Isles for his brothers to deal with, Anna confirming that he had plotted to eliminate both of them to gain the throne for himself. She also discovered that the two goons who had tried to kill her at her ice castle had been under the employ of the Duke of Wesselton, and although she could not prove it was under his orders, it was enough for her to break off all trade agreements with his dukedom. Although Anger had initially wanted to cast harsher punishments on the two, Disgust had intervened, pointing out that if Elsa wanted a reputation as a merciful leader, she needed to start by being merciful.

Of course, being queen meant not only punishing your enemies, but rewarding your allies—for example, Kristoff, the ice harvester who had helped Anna during her quest, was granted a new sled and the title of 'Arendelle's Ice Master and Deliverer', a position that was created not merely out of nepotism, but from the necessity that arose from having a new industry that revolved around their monarch being able to magically produce an endless supply of ice. (Plus, as Anna confessed, she was sweet on the guy—though she promised she wouldn't make the same mistake twice and that she wouldn't rush their relationship.)

And then there were her subjects…

 

* * *

 

"Are you ready?" Elsa called out. She was standing in the castle courtyard, surrounded by half the citizens of Arendelle. They cheered in affirmation, and so she used her powers, which she now had full control over, to turn the ground into a skating rink. She then froze the fountains and produced a light snowfall to complete the effect.

"Perfect!" said Joy, leaning back. Fear and Disgust, who had been participating not due to concern over Elsa's magic but over the basic concerns over a public appearance,

Elsa's sister made her way over to where she was. "I like the open gates," she remarked.

Joy smiled. "I do too," she said. "We're never going to close them again. But there is something we _are_ going to do…"

With a flick of her wrist, Elsa made it so that Anna's boots had a pair of blades beneath them, and then, despite her apprehensions, pulled her out onto the ice and started giving her lessons.

Fear looked at this happy scene, and then, hesitantly, turned to the others. "I'm sorry for hogging the console all those years," he said. "I guess making Elsa afraid of her powers just made things worse, didn't it?"

"It's not your fault," said Sadness. "You were just trying to do what you thought was best for Elsa. All of us were."

"It's just sometimes, figuring out what's best for her can be difficult," said Disgust.

"And all of that's behind us, anyway," said Joy. "We don't have to hide, or run away, or shut our sister out… ow that we've got our powers under control, we can focus on our duties as queen—passing laws, diplomacy, negotiating, making sure our subjects are all taken care of…" She frowned, then turned to Fear. "Maybe you should take the main seat again."

Fear gave a laugh and put his hand on Joy's shoulder. "Oh, stop worrying so much."

 


End file.
